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At the same time that we welcome today’s encouraging labor market news, it is obvious that the American labor market remains severely distressed. ... There will likely be bumps in the road ahead.”

"I'm thrilled," Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the Joint Economic Committee told POLITICO. "This is the best news we've seen in a while." Maloney said she was particularly impressed that 123,000 of the new jobs were in the private sector, and that key sectors such as manufacturing saw boosts in hiring. "I'm optimistic but also realistic," she said. "It will take a long time to bring down our unacceptable unemployment."

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, in a statement, said that “no matter what spin the White House puts on these job numbers, it is unacceptable for President Obama to declare economic success when unemployment remains at 9.7 percent and a large portion of the job growth came from temporary boost in government employment.

“As Democrats grow Big Government, Americans grow weary of the strain on family budgets, job security and peace of mind. As America’s employers announce the frightening and immediate impact of the Democrat government-run health care experiment on their balance sheets, American workers wonder why the only place exempt from increasingly painful belt-tightening seems to be Washington, D.C. In November, the American voters will deliver a few more pink slips — to congressional Democrats.”

Republican Study Committee Chairman Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) said that while “new job opportunities for the American people are always welcome news…we have still yet to see the robust private-sector job creation the Obama administration promised would come from its $862 billion failed stimulus.

“This administration has spent more than a year trying to grow the economy by expanding government, even though history shows that strong and sustainable economic growth must begin in the private sector.”

While most players on both sides of the aisle assume that the employment agony in the country has been a major drag on Obama’s popularity, two Republican analysts at Hamilton Place Strategies issued a white paper Thursday making the case that positive jobs growth does not immediately affect a president’s popularity.

“It usually takes months for presidential approval to recover after a return to job growth,” wrote Tony Fratto and Taylor Griffin.

Interest in Friday’s jobs number has been so high that the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which compiles the data, scheduled its first ever live Web chat for 9:30 a.m. BLS subject matter experts said they would take questions on national unemployment data at www.bls.gov/chat.

Come on, you can spin this as a positive as much as you want but it's still a false number. This actually hurts the administration because come June/July and those census workers go away the niumbers will go back to what they should be and those numbers will be fresh in people's minds when the November elections come about.

Wow....Talk about grading on a curve. It's good to see that Obama's performance is judged with such fluid standards.

9.7% unemployment rate is the same....and almost half of the jobs that were created were temporary census jobs. SUCCESS!!!

The fundamentals are all wrong. Any recovery will be muted by Obama's policies, and 3 years from now we will still be looking at an unemployment rate over the 8% the administration promised would be the highest we would ever see.

The curve will continue to be bent because some are personally invested in the political image of Obama and seem not to care about the reality of a stagnant economy, an alienated and increasingly cynical public and the fact that the utopia of hope and wonder Obama promised is not coming to fruition.

Only the socialist MSM sees good news on the nation’s employment picture Friday, as new government figures showed the nation gained 162,000 jobs in the month of March while he unemployment rate held steady at 9.7 percent and Geithner said he expects the unemployment rate to remain "unacceptably high" for a long time.

The good news will be when the MSM is capable of reporting a drop in unemployment.

We are a population of 350 million people. We have lost 8.5 million jobs and have spent $2 trillion in stimulus. All we have to show for it is 160,000 jobs created. How is this a positive sign, especially where more than a third of the jobs are based on the temporary hiring of govt. census workers?

Can anyone imagine what the media would be doing with this if the Bush administration were announcing these numbers?

So, with a minimum 40,000 temp jobs and conservatively 40,000 Government jobs ... subtract that out AND we are up realisticly 82,000 maximum jobs. Not too much to be jumping up and down or to be unequivocally 'good' news.

Encouraging but nothing to get excited about...yet. We have a $787 billion stimulus package that was enacted over a year ago with great fanfare and it`s a bust. The economy will grow and jobs will come back but Obama babbling and blustering all over the nation hasn`t put anyone back to work! He`s only burned tons of jet fuel and added to the deficit with his non stop campaigning.

Still, a positive number will almost immediately change the political dynamic,

No it won't. Wish in one hand and scoop up a load of steaming BS in the other and see what you get first.

The employment number was not high enough to beat expectations of many economists who were looking for a gain of 200,000 or more.

FAILED to beat.

Many economists say that about 150,000 of the new jobs can be explained away by the combination of a bounce-back effect from the February snowstorms, as snowed in workers got back to their job sites in March and by massive temporary hiring by the U.S. Census of as many as 100,000 canvassers.

And there you have it. You can desperately attempt to spin and sugar coat all you want. The people are far more sophisticated than the 1930's information and education model that you think is still in effect.

This will only further damage the credibility and any hope of respect for this administration. People know a pack of liars in government when they see it.

Why didn't the Politico article mention that the 162,000 included 48,000 temporary workers? Or, compare that to the 455,000 layoffs for the month? Happy days are here again, woopee!

The Labor Department said employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the most since the recession began but below analysts' expectations of 190,000. The total includes 48,000 temporary workers hired for the U.S. Census, also fewer than many economists forecast.

Why didn't the Politico article mention that the 162,000 included 48,000 temporary workers? Or, compare that to the 455,000 layoffs for the month? Happy days are here again, woopee!

The Labor Department said employers added 162,000 jobs in March, the most since the recession began but below analysts' expectations of 190,000. The total includes 48,000 temporary workers hired for the U.S. Census, also fewer than many economists forecast.

It's amazing how the repukes try to twist GOOD NEWS on the economy so in order to stay fluid with their agenda. I'm not going to call you repukes anymore, I'm going to start calling you guys 'The Borg'. There is no greater comparison to date. What is your motto: